A Brief Encounter
by Lellie-Bellie
Summary: A Snippet as to how I think John and Sherlock would meet as teens
1. Chapter 1

Sherlock had always been a chubby child, nobody really understood why. Unlike Mycroft Sherlock hardly ever ate and was always running around the house with Redbeard playing pirates or running off in the meadows on adventures.

Much to the relief of Siger and Violet their son grew tremendously quickly over the summer before he started high school which slimmed his figure somewhat. God knew he did not need another reason to be bullied.

However Sherlock had not adapted to his new height as graciously as he would have liked, he gained many bruises to his shins from misjudging the new height at which he saw the coffee table and one fateful day managed to knock himself out with a kitchen cabinet as he had previously had to reach up to open the cupboards.

It was whilst in the waiting room of A&E with an icepack to his head that Sherlock Holmes met John Watson. John was currently sat with his back against the wall blushing bright red as his mother fussed over him and his broken arm 'Mum can you stop that please' he huffed

'But Johnny you are injured I'm worried about you'

'You see that boy over there with the icepack?' John pointed with his good arm 'his mother is just sat next to him not embarrassing him at all'

The Boy in question was Sherlock.

Sherlock surveyed the room and found he was the only person to fit the description of a boy with the icepack, in a move that surprised both him and his mother Sherlock stood from his seat and walked briskly to John.

'Hello im Sherlock', Sherlock plastered the smile his mother had taught him to wear while talking to people on his face. John looked at the boy in front of him then at his mother and then again to Sherlock 'Um Hi, I'm John'

'I couldn't help but hear you referencing me just now so I thought I'd come over and introduce myself'.

'Oh right, you weren't really supposed to hear that, I was just trying to get my mum to stop fussing'

The smile on Sherlock's face faltered '. . But you pointed at me'

John noticed the faltering smile and felt guilty. 'How about you sit down and tell me how you got your injury then?' John smiled encouragingly to Sherlock.

'Even better, I could tell you how you got your injury' Sherlock got the attention of both John and his mother with this comment. Whilst Sherlock own mother froze with horror in her place.

'Judging by the mass of muscle you have on your arms and legs I'd say some kind of sport certainly not from playing the clarinet'

'How did you know I play the clarinet?' John quizzed

'Please do not interrupt but it that's easy to spot, peoples natural facial expression is to have a closed mouth, however you always have a slight gap between your lips on big enough to fit a clarinet mouth peace in. Since you still have grass and mud stains on your face I'd say a contact sport'. The defence player from the opposing team broke your arm during a Rugby match'.

'How'd you know it was Rugby? It could've been American football'.

'Really John?'

The lack of reply he received from John prompted him to carry on 'You are wearing a Rugby Jersey'

'That was bloody fantastic'

'Language John' his mother scolded

'Sorry Mum'. . But yeah that was amazing, how did you know all that stuff?'

'I observe people and things; I figured it all out almost immediately after I noticed your presence'.

'So can you do that to everyone?'

'I haven't found a person I cannot observe yet' Sherlock boasted.

'What about that lady over there' John nodded to the lady with dark hair.

'Oh that's too easy' Sherlock Smirked 'University lecturer married to an ex-soldier with 2 children, 2 sons actually, One ginger and 'pudgy' as she would say, the other dark haired and a borderline sociopath'

'How could you possibly know all that from looking at her?' John stated in amazement.

'That's my mum' Sherlock laughed in return

'Oh. . So how'd you get your injury' John had noticed the ice pack the boy had been wearing had melted and glued a patch of his dark curls to his head

'I opened the cupboard door on my face and knocked myself out' Sherlock stated matter of factly.

John had a million other questions to ask his new acquaintance but his name was called and his mum was once again fussing over him.

'Guess I'll see you around Sherlock' John called over his shoulder before following the doctor around the corner.

Sherlock sighed with content before heading back to sit with his mother. 'He didn't tell me to piss off' Sherlock sounded confused.

'Sherlock watch your language in public please' Violet prompted

'Sorry, but why wasn't he offended? How did he take it so well?' Sherlock muttered to himself.

There was no time to answer his questions however as he was quickly called to be examined.

Sherlock made it through the rest of the summer reasonably unscathed. There was one thing that tormented Sherlock everyday though and that was John Watson, how could a boy he spoke to for 10 minutes totally knock him off balance, every time he made an observation about someone he saw in public he wanted the approval of John, and this annoyed him greatly. Sherlock never relied on other people.


	2. Chapter 2

John was pulling his head through his jumper as he ran down the stairs 'Mum do me some toast please, I'm running late' he shouted through to the kitchen.

'It was the first day of School and John had overslept, he had 10 minutes to get to the bus stop and he hadn't even brushed his teeth yet, it did not help that he was slowed down considerably by the heavy cast on his left arm, it had taken him twice as long as usual to get dressed that morning.

'Mum where are my shoes?'

'Next to your bag' John's mother shouted to from the kitchen

'Where is my bag?'

'By the front door, your toast is ready.

John ran into the kitchen just as his mother was setting a plate of toast with his favourite Strawberry preserve on the table.

'I'll give you and Harry a lift in this morning, you are never going to catch the bus on time at this rate

'Does that mean I don't have to rush my toast?'

'It means you have as long as it takes Harry to get out of the bathroom to eat it'

'I have 3 days then' John did not miss the chuckle from his mother. A few minutes later loud noises come thumping down the stairs and Harriet walked into the kitchen with her head down and hair in front of her face.

'What are you so angry about Harry?' John asked

His sister raised her head but before she could reply john burst out laughing 'Harry where the hell your eyebrow is?'

'URGH' John's sister spun around on the spot and stormed out of the kitchen while john chuckled around his last slice of toast.

John's mum ran out of the kitchen after Harriet 'Come here darling we'll fix your hair so nobody notices it'.

John put his plate in the sink then went upstairs to brush his teeth. By the time John made it into his mum's car Harry was already in the front sporting a new full fringe.

Harry took the moment to lay down some ground rules with John in school 'if I pass you in the corridors do not acknowledge me at all, ever'

'Believe me, I wouldn't want to' John retorted

'And why is that bog breath?'

'Admitting I'm related to the monobrow? I think not'

'I DO NOT HAVE A MONOBROW!'

'Tell me dear sister, how many eyebrows are currently residing on your face'

There was silence in the car which was not broken until John's mum entered the car.

John's mum noticed the tension within the car but chose not to comment on it.

When they were 2 streets away from the school Harriet asked if she could be dropped off so she could walk in with her friends

'And have you play truant like last year?' Harriet just rolled her eyes

'Fine, John count to 300 before you leave the car when we arrive, don't want people thinking we are related'.

'Harriet stop picking on John.

John's mum pulled up outside the school and Harriet climbed out of the car, John sat patiently in the back seat '1 . . 2. . 3'

John's mother turned around to face him 'Pay no notice to her , get out and have a good day, call me If you have any problems'.

John leant over and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek then also climbed out the car before leaning back in and picking up his nearly forgotten blazer.

Sherlock could not believe his eyes as he climbed out of Mycroft's car. 'Sherlock remember to feed the seatbelt back into the panel please' Sherlock just closed the door to his brother's pride and joy and stalked off, leaving the seatbelt messily on the seat. He needed to catch up to the boy.

As he slowly advanced on the boy he deduced him again 'Grown 2 inches since last meeting , hair slightly lighter, bleached by the sun cast on left arm' he was sure it was the boy he encountered at the hospital however the large group the boy stood with unnerved him so he did not pursue his lead.

The first bell of the term rang and everyone made their way into the building, there was a member of staff stood at the door directing all they year 9's to the Humanities department upstairs. Despite his growth over the summer John was still shorted than most of his classmates so soon found himself at the back of the group jogging to catch up.

There was only one seat left by the time John reached the classroom. He placed his bag under the table and sat in the seat next to boy with impossibly curly black hair. John had a strange feeling he recognised the curls. But who could they belong too?

Sherlock heard rustling as somebody sat down next to him; no doubt if he stayed quiet his new companion would leave him alone or just leave it didn't matter which. He had no interest in finding out who was sat next to him until he heard him coughing and looked up, im doing this he noticed a bright yellow cast hidden under a blazer sleeve.

'I don't mean to bother you but you remind me of someone and I would like clarification of who you are'.

John looked up at the mop of curls which had just spoken

'Oh my god Sherlock'

'Sherlock is a pretty rare name so It is highly unlikely that we are both-' John interrupted.

'No no , You are Sherlock , we met in the hospital'

'Ah so it is you John , I noticed you earlier but I wasn't sure if it was you'.

'Yeah it's me, How's your head?'

'Completely fine , Mummy just worries a lot, How's your arm?'

'Still broken , cast comes off in 2 weeks though'

The pair continued to make small talk until the bell rang for first period completely oblivious to the strange looks they were receiving from their classmates.


	3. Chapter 3

Sherlock was disappointed to find out he and John only Chemistry and Maths together this year.

'Stupid Sherlock getting attached so quickly' he mumbled as he walked towards the English department and earned a few strange glares along the way.

He made his way to the classroom and sat down at the edge of the room. Not surprisingly he was the first to arrive. He mentally cursed his new longer legs.

'Hello my dear' a little old woman called from the opposite corner off the room, 'I'm Mrs Hudson, head of English' the old woman smiled sweetly at Sherlock

'Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes' he offered in response.

'Any relation to Mycroft Holmes?' Oh great Sherlock thought, another person who would compare him to Mycroft.

'He's my older brother'

'Are you as good as he was?'

'Better' Sherlock laughed

'Oh I like that kind of attitude' Mrs Hudson smiled.

Maybe this year wouldn't be as bad as he had intentionally thought. There was a comfortable silence in the room until the rest of Sherlock's class arrived. A small girl with mousey brown hair introduced herself as Molly to Sherlock before sitting next to him. Sherlock could tell straight away that Molly had a crush on him, her heart rate elevated, pupils of her eyes widened and the capillaries in her face opened up causing a blush to stain her face. Sherlock bet with himself that any Idiot in the room could figure it out.

The sound of a pen flourish made Molly glance over at Sherlock's exercise book as they were doing the obligatory 'describe my summer' task every English teacher ever made their students do; Molly always thought she had quite neat had writing until she saw Sherlock's pen fountain written flourishes. She was also surprised to see Sherlock had written almost a page to describe his summer whilst Molly was struggling to write the first paragraph. Sherlock could feel Molly's eyes burning into the side of his head and immediately stopped writing. Molly noticed Sherlock had stopped writing and starred at her page.

'Miss Hooper I can hear the question rattling around in your head, please just ask it so I can get on with my work' Sherlock snapped.

Molly opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally asking the question 'How come you write with a fountain pen, you'd be lucky if any other boy in the class had a bic never mind a fountain pen'

'I was taught to write with a fountain pen so it seems only logical to continue to write with a fountain pen' Sherlock continued to write aware of Molly's eyes also on his book reading what he had written.

'So where you in hospital long? You seem to have written quite a lot about it'

'An hour'

'How can you write so much about an hour of your life?'

' is store all the relevant details in my mind palace and access them whenever I need them'

Sherlock stood up without warning frightening Molly before swooping quite elegantly to the Mrs Hudson placing his finished work on her desk before exiting the classroom with his coat billowing out behind him. He hadn't taken it off since 8am that morning.

'Just like his brother that one' Mrs Hudson muttered to herself before picking up Sherlock's book 'and such beautiful hand writing too'

'He uses a fountain pen' Molly squeaked before awkwardly looking back down at her book and writing a few more sentences.

Molly didn't see Sherlock again till break time, She made her way over to the picnic table in the corner of the yard where her friend Greg was sat with Sherlock and a few people she hadn't met yet.

'Hi everyone I'm Molly'

'Phillip'

'Sally'

'Mike'

'John. . . Sherlock introduce yourself to Molly'

'I don't need to' came the reply 'I sit with her in English'

'it's true he managed to write three pages about the hour he spent in hospital deducing somebodies injury , while I managed to write 2 paragraphs about the week I spent in France' Molly seemed annoyed by this

This piqued John's interest, but then again Sherlock had mentioned he had been accident prone that summer so maybe he frequented the hospital often. 'So how many times where you in hospital over the summer Sherlock' John asked. Sherlock knew this wasn't the question John really wanted to ask, but he answered it in a way that answered both the asked and the unasked question 'just the once'. The angst visibly melted from John's body.

Greg interrupted the long stare John and Sherlock were giving to each other 'So did you go to the same middle school then?'

'Huh what? , Um no we met in the hospital over the summer' John answered

'So you are the sandy-haired roughian Sherlock was writing about?' Molly sounded almost upset by this. Neither Sherlock nor John knew how to reply to this so just stayed silent praying for the bell to signal the end of break. The lack of response from either of the boys made it obvious to the rest of the table that John was indeed the sandy-haired roughian.

Sherlock had never been more relieved to get to a lesson in all of his life. Unfortunately it wasn't a lesson with John; he didn't have one of those until after lunch so he sullenly made his way to the wood work labs.

The woodwork teacher had not appreciated Sherlock's refusal to pick up any tools in his lesson so sent him to stand in corridor, naturally Sherlock had gotten bored with 2 minutes and decided to learn how to get around the school while the corridors were quiet. Looking through the pane of glass in every door Sherlock noticed John sat bored in one of the physics classrooms. He knocked on the door.

'Sorry to Interrupt Sir, John is needed by one of the teachers' this woke John from his daydream and he was immediately concerned. Why was Sherlock in his lesson?

'Which teacher?' the crooked nose teacher asked

'I'm not sure' Sherlock responded

'How can you not be sure-'

'With all due respect sir this is only my first day here'

'WATSON'

John looked up innocently as if he hadn't been listening to the whole conversation 'Yes sir'

'You will follow this young man, and finish the reading as homework before next lesson'

'Yes sir' John nodded again before picking his bag and coat up and walking quickly to the doorway. 'So what does the teacher want?'

'Oh John don't be predictable, no teacher has asked for you, I thought we could do some exploring'.

They explored as far as the dining hall when the thought of food made John realise how hungry he actually was.

'Oh bollocks'

John's sudden outburst surprised Sherlock.

'What's the problem?'

John's nose was buried in his bag 'I left my bloody lunch at home'

'Here you can have mine, I rarely eat anyway' Sherlock took his sandwich tine out of his satchel and passed it to John who eyed eagerly

'God how posh are you'

'Excuse me?' Sherlock asked

'smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, and a carton of elderberry and lemon juice.

'Oh shut up John'

John did so gladly and tucked into Sherlock's lunch.


	4. Chapter 4

John was finishing up Sherlock's sandwiches as the rest of their friends joined them at the table.

'Hungry John?' Greg joked as he opened his packed lunch

'Yeah I was actually, I got used to snacking whenever I wanted for the past 6 weeks'

'Tell me about it, you got anything worth swapping for some Cheese sandwiches, I don't know how many times I've told my mum I hate cheese'

'Sorry I've already eaten my sandwiches, I can swap you for some crackers and chilli dip if you want?'

'Who put's crackers and Chilli dip in a packed lunch?' Phillip asked

'Sherlock's Mum' John answered

'Sherlock's mum made your packed lunch?' Greg questioned

This made Molly's head shoot up from her own lunch to look at John's.

'No Sherlock's mum made Sherlock's packed lunch but he gave it to me because I forgot mine'

This seemed like a much more plausible reason everybody accepted. Molly breathed a sigh of relief maybe Sherlock and John weren't as close as she originally thought.

John and Sherlock started talking about their 'adventure' while everyone continued to eat their lunches. 'Sally interrupted the conversation 'so how come you two managed to get down to lunch so quickly?'

'Ah we were just talking about that actually' John smirked 'Sherlock got sent out of woodwork so came and rescued me from physics and we ended up wandering round for abit'.

Sherlock decided to add to the conversation 'I noticed him looking bored and alone in the physics classroom, so I intervened'.

'I wasn't actually alone Sherlock, I was sat with Molly'.

'Oh I do apologise Molly I didn't notice you'. Sherlock tried to make his face look apologetic but judging by the sniggers made by everyone on the table he did not exceed

'Evidently' Molly huffed before quite violently stabbing a roast potato with her fork and bringing it up to her mouth.

The group continued to chat amongst themselves until the end of lunch Where Sherlock and John made their way to the only lesson they had together that day, maths. John hated maths but he had a feeling he was going to enjoy it this year.

'Just know this' the teacher boomed as the class entered' I will judge where you sit in this classroom'. John wanting to make a good first impression sauntered towards a table in the middle of the room, however when he looked up and saw Sherlock stood in the back corner he trooped over to him like a good puppy walks to his master. He raised his eyebrows for an explanation 'I can observe everyone from this point without many people seeing me'. This seemed like a good enough excuse to John so he sat down.

'Well it seems some people have bigger personalities than others in this room 'you the blonde boy at the back, why'd you move seats on account of him?' he nodded towards Sherlock

'He's my best friend sir' Sherlock froze. He had never been anyone's best friend before, in truth he'd never been anyone's friend, so John's outburst surprised him. John looked nervously to Sherlock to gauge his reaction but was interrupted by the teacher 'I have only one rule in this classroom – If I catch anybody passing notes you will be made to stand at the front of the class and read them out'. The class nodded solemnly to the teacher then quickly opened their exercise books to complete the orders he had just barked out.

John looked around the room to see everybody with their heads down writing, he then looked towards Sherlock who had answered all 20 questions without any mistakes, John's pages was already full of scribbles and he had only been in the lesson 7 minutes, John was a very intelligent boy but in comparison to Sherlock he felt utterly useless. Sherlock seemed to notice John's pause 'Come on John, prove it to me you are better than these idiots. John Certainly did not want Sherlock thinking he was an idiot so got back to his questions with vigour. After another 10 minutes he had all the questions answered albeit with a few more mistakes. 'Thanks Sherlock'.

'Oh I did that purely for my benefit, can't be seen to be friends with an idiot now can I?' The smirk on Sherlock's face made John laugh 'you git'

'SILENCE WHILE YOU DO YOUR WORK' this made the pair start giggling

'If you think maths is so funny Mr Holmes you can humour yourself on Friday afternoon in detention, and Mr Watson you can join him'. John's mum would not be impressed, earning a detention on the first day of school. It became quite evident to John that this year was not going to go as planned , but he knew aslong as Sherlock was there he would have fun.

At the end of the day John decided to walk home as it was quite warm for September standards. Sherlock noticed John walking towards the gate and decided to join him. He wrote a quick note and stuck it on the windscreen on Mycroft's car and ran towards John.

'Mind if I join you?'

'Not at all' John replied 'I thought you were getting a lift with Mycroft'

'I'd much rather walk with you'

The pair headed down the hill talking about the new friends they had made that day and John informed Sherlock of his sister's rules. 'Myself and Mycroft have an unspoken agreement not to acknowledge each other in public, but people tend to notice we're related'

'It's probably the briefcases' John laughed

'They certainly look better than red rucksacks'

'It's a backpack actually' John laughed.

The pair made their way onto John's street and John was surprised at how quickly time had flown with Sherlock it was usually a 30 minute walk.

'I'd invite you in but the house is still full of boxes from the move' John sounded embarrassed.

'No worries John, you could always come to my house and I can help you with your Physics homework if you like'

'Yeah that sounds great, hang on I'll just tell mum'

John walked into his house and dumped his bag by the door 'Mum I'm going to Sherlock's to do some homework' John's mum emerged from the dining room 'Whose Sherlock , and move your bag away from the door please'

'The boy from the hospital, he's in my class' John answered whilst picking his bag up.

'Where is Sherlock now?'

'Outside'

'Well don't be rude John, invite him in'

John turned back to the door and invited Sherlock into the house and the boys went straight up to john's room so he could get changed.

A few minutes later John and Sherlock ran back down the stairs

'Bye Mum, Sherlock said I can have tea at his house, by the way I have detention on Friday night'. The door slammed before John's mum had a chance to reply.


	5. Chapter 5

John was surprised at how normal Sherlock's house was, granted it was bigger and fancier than his own 3 bed terraced house, but John was expecting to walk into a grand manor so he was quite relieved. Sherlock kicked off his shoes and hung up his coat. So John did the same.

'Mummy set an extra place at the table for John, He's staying for dinner' Sherlock called as he made his way to the staircase. Sherlock was tidy and organised at school so it came as quite a shock to John that Sherlock's room was a mess, there was books files all over the floor and a large pile of clothes in the corner. Sherlock took the pile of clean clothes off his desk chair and motioned to john to sit. John took the chair whilst Sherlock stretched himself out on the surprisingly made bed.

'So what did you have to do for your Physics homework' Sherlock asked. John looked around at his feet until he remembered he'd left his bag at home 'Erm I don't actually have it with me'

'Oh not to worry I'm sure we'll find something to occupy oursel-' Sherlock did not get the chance to finish his sentence as John interrupted ' Sherlock why do you have insects on sticks on your desk?' John sounded concerned as he asked.

'I was observing them over the summer and I am yet to have them encased in resin' John's eyes continued to roam around the room until he spotted the Violin case 'you play the Violin?'

'Yes the Clarinet just wasn't doing it for me' Sherlock joked, John picked up a pair of balled up socks and threw them at Sherlock who was lying on his bed with his eyes closed 'You really are a prick aren't you'

'It comes in handy, it's natural people filter' John was intrigued, he'd never heard anything like that before 'What do you mean?'

'Well pricks don't like being around other pricks , snobs think they are too good to be near you and it's only the truly kind people who believe there may be a nice side to you'

'So what does that make me then?' John asked

'Isn't it obvious'

'I just want to hear you say it' John smirked

'You are one of very few truly kind people' Sherlock smiled

'You are kind aswell Sherlock, you gave me lunch, offered to help me with my homework, walked hom-'

'The only reason you got that homework was because of me and I got you a detention on your first day of school' Sherlock seemed genuinely upset by this statement

They did not get to continue this conversation however as Sherlock's Mum called them down for dinner.

A/N-This was a just an idea that would leave me alone until it was written , it really wasn't meant to span for 5 chapters , so I thought I'd end it here while I'm still happy with it . Thanks for reading


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